Dictionary:

felid

  (fē'lĭd)

Feline.

[From New Latin Fēlidae, family name, from Fēlis, type genus, from Latin fēlēs, cat.]

(Felidae)

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Felidae

Thumbnail description
Small to large carnivores with lithe, agile bodies and short faces with small, broad skulls. Legs short to long, with large paws. Claws, teeth and strong jaws adapted for grasping and tearing. Tail usually long. Coat soft-furred, with cryptic color, plain or patterned with spots, patches or stripes

Size
Head and body length 14–120 in (35–300 cm); tail 2–40 in (5–100 cm); weight 2.5–670 lb (1–305 kg)

Number of genera, species
18 genera; 36 species

Habitat
All major habitat types except arctic tundra and polar ice

Conservation status
Critically Endangered: 1 species; Endangered: 4 species; Vulnerable: 12 species; Lower Risk/Near Threatened: 8 species

Distribution
Worldwide except Australia, Antarctica and oceanic islands

Evolution and systematics

Felidae are part of the ailurid (cat-like) branch of the order Carnivora, which also includes the hyena, mongoose, and civet families. The earliest cat-like animals can be dated back to the lower Eocene, some 40 million years ago. Today's cat species can be traced to an ancestor named Pseudailurus, from which wild cats and saber-toothed tigers evolved in the Oligocene, some 25-30 million years ago. Saber-tooths preyed on primitive, large, slow mammals and died out 10,000-20,000 years ago, but modern cats adapted to hunt large, fast ungulates, and prospered and evolved into the 36 cat species known today.

Cat taxonomy has been subject to considerable confusion and revision. Linnaeus originally classified all cats into a single genus, Felis. Later taxonomists subdivided this into as many as 23 genera, then, more recently there was a tendency to "lump" some genera together again. Until recently many authorities recognized only four genera: Felis for all small cats, Panthera for the "big cats" (defined by their ability to roar), Neofelis for the clouded leopard, intermediate between big and small cats, and Acinonyx for the cheetah.

In 1996, the Felid Taxonomic Advisory Group (TAG) of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) published a revised taxonomy which divided Panthera into 4 genera, and Felis into 13. There are now four genera (seven species) in the Pantherinae subfamily, one genus (one species: the cheetah) in the Acinonychinae subfamily, and 13 genera (28 species) in the Felinae subfamily. The Iriomote cat (Prionailurus bengalensis iriomotensis), once considered a separate species, is now classed as a subspecies of the leopard cat.

The Felid TAG classification is used in this account, with older genus names indicated in parentheses. Molecular research is likely to lead to further revisions to felid taxonomy.

Physical characteristics

All cat species show considerable resemblance to the domestic cat, being carnivores with long, lithe, muscular bodies, but in a wide range of sizes. Head and body length ranges from 14 in (35.6 cm) for the diminutive black-footed cat (Felis nigripes), to more than 10 ft (3 m) for a large male Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica). The weight range varies more than 300 fold, from as little as 1.7 lb (0.8 kg) for the small cat to in excess of 660 lb (300 kg) for the tiger. Males are larger and more muscular than females, but otherwise there is minimal sexual dimorphism, with the notable exception of lions (P. leo). A cat's head is short and rounded with large eyes, long whiskers, powerful jaws, specialized teeth for cutting and gnawing meat, and a rough, rasping tongue covered with horny papillae, to lick bones clean. Ears may be triangular or rounded. Legs are short to long, feet large and padded, with five toes on the front feet, four on the hind feet, and with hooked sickle-shaped claws, which in most species are sharp and retractile. Tails are furred and usually medium to long, up to 40 in (1 m) in large cats, but some species such as bobcats have short, rounded tails.

Coats are cryptically colored, pale gray to brown, with a paler underside and often with black and/or white markings on the face, tail and back of the ears. Many species are spotted, blotched, or striped, for camouflage. Melanistic (black) forms are common among several species, white forms occur rarely. Young often have different markings from the adult coloration—newborn cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) cubs have a long, white-gray mane, absent in the adult, for example. Individual cat species can show considerable variations in color, often linked to geographic location, with animals from warm, humid climates often darker than specimens of the same species living in cooler regions.

Cats have acute, binocular, color vision. The iris, which may be orange, yellow, gray, brown or green, reacts very quickly to darkness and contracts to a small point or slit in bright light. Night vision is very good, helped by a reflecting layer, the tapetum lucidum, outside the retinal receptor layer, which reflects back any light not absorbed by the receptor layer at first pass, and accounts for the eye shine we see in cats at night. Whiskers and long hairs above the eyes are sensitive to touch, which also helps the animals move around at night.

Most felids have acute hearing, especially those species with large ears, which are used like radar dishes to locate prey. The sense of smell is also very important to cats, with a major role in social interaction, maintaining territories, and advertising that females are ready to mate, though not in hunting. Scent glands are often present in foot pads, chin, cheeks and anus.

Distribution

Cats are found the world over, with the exception of Australia, the polar regions, and some oceanic islands where they are usually considered a serious pest. However, domestic cats have been introduced to almost all places settled by humans, including Australia and other islands. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to eight cat species, including the largest populations of lion, cheetah, and leopard (P. pardus). These big cats are also found in North Africa and southwest Asia, along with five other species, but their distribution has declined dramatically in this region, and only small, isolated populations remain. Tropical Asia is home to 12 species, including tiger (P. tigris), clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), leopard, and a range of small cats adapted to jungle habitats. Eurasia has seven species, including snow leopard (Uncia uncia), lynx (Lynx lynx), and Iberian lynx (L. pardinus), but their populations are also under severe pressure. Cats are well represented in the Americas, with a dozen species, including jaguar (P. onca), puma (Puma concolor), and Canada lynx (L. canadensis).

Habitat

Cats have colonized almost all major habitat types from desert to equatorial rainforest, swamps, and high mountains. Only treeless tundra and polar ice are felid-free. Although a few species have become highly adapted to a limited range of habitats (the sand cat [F. margarita] of stony and sandy deserts, for example) most species are not habitat specialists and can be found in a range of environments.

Behavior

The social organization and behavior of cats show remarkable similarity between the majority of species. Most are truly solitary, coming together only to mate. In the closed habitat favored by many species prey is usually dispersed and too small to share, so hunting alone is more efficient. Both males and females have home ranges, with those of males generally larger and often incorporating the range of one or more females. Adult males are usually territorial, defending at least part of their range, while females may or may not be territorial. The notable exception to the typical feline social organization is the lion, which has developed a unique clan-based society, based on close bonds between related females, and involving cooperative hunting, feeding and raising young. Tigers and leopards may also occasionally hunt together. Cheetahs also differ since males may hunt in groups.

Although cats do fight over territory, physical aggression is mostly avoided. Instead cats use scent-marking and calling to advertise their home range and specific whereabouts, enabling even animals with overlapping ranges to avoid running into one another. Cats may sharpen their claws on trees, leaving visual signs of their presence. Big cats also rake their hind feet in the earth as they spray backwards onto above ground objects to leave a scent trail as they patrol. Where fights do occur, usually in contests over an estrous female, they vary in intensity, but may be very serious and even deadly. Territorial fights usually involve a sudden fast attack without preliminary display.

Most cats are primarily nocturnal, but often show activity peaks around dusk and dawn, related to increased prey activity at these times. Their secretive, nocturnal behavior means many species have not been extensively studied in the wild.

Apart from cheetah, tigers, and lions, cats are good climbers, but most climb trees for rest and safety, rather than hunting. Cats have a famous ability to land on their feet, a result of a well-developed sense of equilibrium, important in arboreal species. In treeless environments, cats may den underground, appropriating the burrows of other animals. Most cats have an aversion to entering water, but some are strong swimmers. Tigers will chase prey into lakes, and some small cats catch fish.

Cats have a wide range of calls, include meowing, purring, panting, gasping, yowling, snorting, growling, and hissing. Small cats lack the roaring distance call of big cats, but some advertise estrous with loud wails. Close range communication involves not just vocalization, but sophisticated visual signals. Cats have a large variety of facial expressions and body language, enabling complex, often ritualized communication, which may avert dangerous physical confrontations between animals armed with sharp claws and teeth. The arched back seen in domestic and other small cats is a defensive threat posture.

Feeding ecology and diet

Cats are generally the purest of carnivores, sitting at the top of the food chain. Small cats prey predominantly on rodents, rabbits and hares, but will also take reptiles, amphibians, fish, crustacea, birds, and insects. Large cats prefer ungulates, but feed opportunistically on any available meat. Many cats will also scavenge carrion. Some species supplement a carnivorous diet with fruit, and desert lions are known to eat tsama melon (Citrullus lanatus), though this is for their water content, rather than food. Cats will also swallow grass, which helps rid the body of fur balls formed inside the intestinal tract from hair swallowed when grooming.

Cats mainly hunt at night, though the cheetah is diurnal. Most rely on stealth to approach prey before a final rush or pounce. Even the fastest cats can only outrun their prey over a short distance, as with comparatively small hearts they have very limited stamina and quickly tire.

Small prey animals are pounced on with both front paws, and killed with a specialized bite to the back of the neck, severing the spinal cord, before being eaten, starting with the head. Large, fast-running prey animals are tripped with a foreleg; slower animals grappled over the rump, back, or shoulder. The cat keeps its back legs on the ground for purchase, hooks claws into the quarry's skin, and pulls it off balance. A powerful jawlock on the prey's throat or muzzle then suffocates it.

Cats may gnaw meat from the bone, or pull it off in lumps and swallow it without chewing. Excepting the snow leopard, which eats crouched over food like small cats, all big cats eat lying down and never hold the meat with their fore paws. Whereas small cats use just their molars to pull at meat, big cats (and sometimes the clouded leopard as well) use not only the molars but the incisors and canines as well, grabbing the meat and jerking the head up. Cats have a tooth formation in the upper and lower jaws of three pairs of incisors, one pair of canines, two or three pairs of premolars, and one pair of molars. The molar is modified to a powerful shearing tooth, or "carnassial," so cats bite with the side of the mouth, not with the front. Large kills are often cached by covering with leaves, grass or dirt, or carried into trees. Species that mainly eat small prey such as rodents may feed every day, but for larger cats, feeding often means gorging on large kills for several days, then going hungry for several more days before another successful kill.

Cats are stimulated to stalk and catch prey even when satiated, which explains why even a well-fed domestic cat—or wild lion—cannot resist an easy kill. Given that waiting for suitable prey is the most time-consuming part of predation, this stimulus response ensures cats make the most of every opportunity. It also explains why a caracal or puma in a field of sheep will kill many more animals than it can eat.

Reproductive biology

Female small cats may reach sexual maturity at less than one year old, big cats at around two years, but a female may not produce her first litter until she has established a home range, which might not be until age three or four. Gestation ranges from two months in small cats to over three months in lion and tiger. Litters may contain up to eight cubs, but two to four is usual. Small cats may reproduce yearly, larger ones at intervals of at least 18 months, unless they lose a litter, in which case they can come into estrous again within weeks. Many cats are non-seasonal breeders, but in areas with strongly seasonal climatic or prey availability conditions breeding occurs at the most favorable time of year.

Cats are polygamous. Estrus may last from one day to three weeks, depending on the species. Females have multiple estrous cycles until they conceive. They advertise their condition by scent marking, calling, and by becoming hyperactive. Local males may compete for mating rights with displays and sometimes fighting. The successful male may consort with the female for several days, courting with specific calls, by presenting his head, and by rubbing against the female. Females court the male with behavior that is alternatively inviting and defensive, increasingly taking the initiative as they come more into heat. Copulation itself typically lasts less than a minute, but may be repeated several times an hour for up to three days or even longer. Repeated copulation probably serves to induce ovulation in the female. During copulation the female lies prone on her belly, while the male mounts her. In small cats the male bites the female's neck during copulation, but big cats only grab the neck symbolically at ejaculation. Copulation ends with the female twisting to hiss and strike at the male with her paw, before often rolling onto her back. She then resumes affectionate behavior. After several days the male may lose interest and another male may take his place.

With the exception of lions, males apparently play no further part in raising young. Feline young are born blind, deaf, and barely able to crawl. They remain hidden in a den or nest for several weeks until mobile. In some species, individuals in the litter develop a teat order while nursing, with dominant kittens getting the most milk. The mother will defend her kittens aggressively, even against the odds, and will move the hiding place if disturbed, carrying cubs one-by-one by the head, nape or skin on the back. Mothers start to train cubs to hunt from a very young age, bringing back first dead then live prey for them to practice catching and eating. However, cubs may not be independent for up to 18 months or more in the case of some big cats. When the mother is ready to produce a new litter they depart, but may stay within the mother's home range for another year, or indefinitely in the case of females. Young cats play extensively, mainly developing behaviors of importance in adult predatory behavior. Longevity is commonly approximately 15 years for most species, with some individuals reported to have lived over 30 years.

Conservation status

No fewer than 25 of the 36 cat species are listed by the IUCN, and even those which are not are often subject to serious threat at local or subspecies level, or their population status may simply be insufficiently known to classify. The most immediate threat of extinction is faced by the Iberian lynx, found in only small, isolated, populations in Spain and Portugal. But not far behind are such iconic species as the tiger and the snow leopard.

While many species of cat have long been persecuted by farmers on the grounds of their real or imagined threat to livestock, the principal direct human threat to cat species in recent decades has been commercial trapping for fur. A fashion for furs in Western society in the 1960s and 1970s saw large numbers of tiger, leopard, jaguar, and snow leopard pelts appearing in shops, and small cats were also traded extensively, peaking at 600,000 pelts traded in a single year. Species such as the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) and Geoffroy's cat (Oncifelis geoffroyi) were hit particularly hard.

Concern that commercial fur trading at unsustainable levels could drive some cat species to extinction was a major factor behind the 1975 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Although some countries have been slow to enforce legislation banning trade in endangered species, the international trade in spotted cat pelts has now reduced dramatically, a trend strengthened by public awareness of the impact of fur harvesting on species survival. Today's fur trade relies on three species of lynx and the Chinese leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), supplied by the United States, Canada, China, and Russia. Commercial fur trading is not currently considered a significant threat to cat species, with the possible exception of the leopard in some areas.

Illegal poaching driven by a demand for cat body parts for use in traditional Oriental medicine is still a major problem for large Asian cats such as the tiger, which could soon be driven to extinction in the wild.

Habitat loss has mostly affected cats associated with forest habitat. Deforestation, especially in tropical Asia, has made several species vulnerable, through the absolute loss of habitat and the fragmentation of populations. Important habitats including tropical rainforest, major wetlands, and tropical montane complexes are declining globally. However, many cat species are adaptable and can survive in modified habitat. The indirect threat of human development posed by the depletion of prey species may be of more immediate concern for the conservation of some cats as well as the incidence of disease in several populations.

Significance to humans

Domestication of the cat can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians, some 7,000–4,000 years ago. The distinctive upright, long-legged posture of sitting cats in Egyptian paintings suggests it was the African version of the wildcat that gave rise to today's domestic tabby. Wildcats were undoubtedly attracted to the granaries and fields of early settlement, where they performed a valuable service preying on rodents and would have grown used to human contact. African, Asian, and old Germanic tribes have also revered the cat. Mohammed called the cat his favorite animal, and the keeping of domestic cats spread across Africa and Asia with the spread of Islam.

Human fear and persecution of cats no doubt dates back to the prehistoric days of the saber-toothed tiger, which appears in cave paintings dating back tens of thousands of years. Our modern species of big cat still engender fear among communities living close by, with some justification—tigers, lions, and leopards have all been recorded as human-eaters. Human casualties are generally the result of accidental confrontations, or involve injured or sick animals, but in the Sunderbans swamps of India tigers have learned that fishermen and wood gatherers make easy prey, and several dozen people may fall victim in a single year.

A much more widespread cause of conflict with humans is predation on livestock. Although predation rates are usually fairly low, losses may be important to individual owners, especially in developing countries. Conservationists are looking at measures including culling of problem animals, improved anti-predator stock management, and paying compensation for lost livestock, to discourage large scale persecution of cats by farmers.

Cat pelts have been a symbol of status and power in cultures both ancient and modern. While international trade in the fur of endangered species has been reduced to relatively insignificant levels, domestic trade persists in some countries. Unlike animals such as fox or mink, cats killed for fur are entirely caught in the wild, and pelts are of high value compared with other species. Some conservationists have suggested that controlled harvesting, generating relatively high revenues from low level culling, could be one way of encouraging sustainable exploitation of cats.

Larger cat species have an economic value in attracting tourists to national and private reserves in Africa and India. Trophy hunting under quota is carried on in a number of African countries. In Botswana, selective hunting of "trophy" lions, usually by dominant males, is alleged to have caused social imbalance and inbreeding among prides. There has also been controversy in South Africa over "canned lion" hunts, where captive-bred lions habituated to people are "hunted" in enclosures or immediately after release.

Species accounts

Resources

Nowell, Kristin, and Peter Jackson. Wild Cats: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan (IUCN). Gland: IUCN, 1996.

Sunquist, M., and F. Sunquist. Wild Cats of the World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.

Biswas, S., and K. Sankar. "Prey Abundance and Food Habit of Tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) in Pench National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India." Journal of Zoology 256 (2002): 411–420.

Daniels, M. J., M. A. Beaumont, P. J. Johnson, D. Balharry, D. W. Macdonald, and E. Barratt. "Ecology and Genetics of Wild-living Cats in the North-east of Scotland and the Implications for the Conservation of the Wildcat." Journal of Applied Ecology 38, no. 1 (2001): 146–161.

Funston, P. J., M. G. L. Mills, and H. C. Biggs. "Factors Affecting the Hunting Success of Male and Female Lions in the Kruger National Park." Journal of Zoology 253 (2001): 419–431.

Gros, Paule M. "The Status and Conservation of the Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus in Tanzania." Biological Conservation 106, no. 2 (2002): 177–185.

Ogutu, J. O., and H. Dublin. "Demography of Lions in Relation to Prey and Habitat in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya." African Journal of Ecology 40 (2002): 120–129.

Riley, Shawn J., and R. A. Malecki. "A Landscape Analysis of Cougar Distribution and Abundance in Montana, USA." Environmental Management 28 (2001): 317–323.

Rodriquez, A., and M. Delibes. "Population Fragmentation and Extinction in the Iberian Lynx" Biological Conservation 109, no. 3 (2003): 321–331.

Organizations

Cheetah Conservation Foundation. P.O. Box 1380, Ojai, CA 93024 United States. Phone: (805) 640-0390. Fax: (805) 640-0230. E-mail: info@cheetah.org Web site:

Florida Panther Society. Rt. 1, Box 1895, White Springs, FL 32096 United States. Phone: (386) 397-2945. E-mail: old_florida@earthlink.net Web site:

International Snow Leopard Trust. 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103 United States. Phone: (206) 632-2421. E-mail: info@snowleopard.org Web site:

IUCN Cat Specialist Group. Thunstrasse 31, Muri b, Bern, 3074 Switzerland. Phone: 41 (31) 951 9020. Fax: 41 (31) 951 9040. E-mail: urs.breitenmoser@ivv.unibe.ch Web site:

Mountain Lion Foundation. P.O. Box 1896, Sacramento, CA 95812 United States. Phone: (916) 442-2666. Fax: (916) 442-2871. E-mail: mlf@mountainlion.org Web site:

Other

African Lion Working Group (IUCN).

Asiatic Lion Information Centre.

Big Cats Online.

Carnivore Conservation.

Tiger Information Center.

WorldLYNX.

[Article by: Ann and; Stephen B. Toon]

The family of cats; includes the domestic cat (Felis catus) and feral cats of approximately the same dimensions. There are a large number of breeds of the former (see under cat) and a larger number of genera of the latter. See also lion, tiger, leopard, lynx, mountain lion, jaguar, ocelot, cheetah (acinonyx jubatus).

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: any of various lithe-bodied round-headed fissiped mammals many with retractile claws
  Synonym: feline

"Feline" redirects here. For other uses, see Feline (disambiguation).

Felines[1] Fossil range: Eocene - Recent
Tiger, the largest feline found in nature.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Suborder: Feliformia Family: Felidae G. Fischer de Waldheim, 1817
Subfamilies
Felinae Pantherinae †Machairodontinae

Felidae is the biological family of the cats; a member of this family is called a felid. They are the most strictly carnivorous mammals of the nine families in the order Carnivora. The first felids emerged during the Oligocene, about 30 million years ago. The most familiar feline is the Domestic Cat or House Cat, which first became associated with humans about 10,000 years ago. Its wild relative, the Desert Wildcat, still lives in the Near East and Africa, although habitat destruction has restricted its range.

Other well-known members of the feline family include big cats such as the Lion, the Tiger, the Leopard, the Jaguar, the Cougar, and the Cheetah, and other wild cats such as the lynxes and the Caracal. The extinct subfamily Machairodontinae, including the "saber-toothed cats" such as the well known Smilodon, were also true felines, in contrast to similar animals such as Thylacosmilus or Nimravidae.

Evolution

There are 41 known species of felines in the world today which have all descended from a common ancestor about 10.8 million years ago. This taxa originated in Asia and spread across continents by crossing land bridges. As reported in the journal Science, testing of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA by Warren Johnson and Stephen O'Brien of the U.S. National Cancer Institute demonstrated that ancient cats evolved into eight main lineages that diverged in the course of at least 10 migrations (in both directions) from continent to continent via the Bering land bridge and Isthmus of Panama. The Panthera species are the oldest and the Felis species are the youngest. They estimated that 60 percent of the modern species of cats developed within the last million years.^[2] Most felids have a haploid number of 18 or 19. New world cats (those in Central and South America) have a haploid number of 18, possibly due to the combination of two smaller chromosomes into one larger chromosome.^[3]

Prior to this discovery, biologists had been largely unable to establish a family tree of cats from the fossil record because the fossils of different cat species all look very much alike, differing primarily in size.

The felines' closest relatives are thought to be the civets, hyenas, and mongooses. All feline species share a genetic anomaly that prevents them from tasting sweetness.^[4]

Classification

• FAMILY FELIDAE^[1]
  • Subfamily Felinae
    • Genus Felis
      • Chinese Mountain Cat (Felis bieti)
      • Jungle Cat (Felis chaus)
      • Pallas's Cat (Felis manul)
      • Sand Cat (Felis margarita)
      • Black-footed Cat (Felis nigripes)
      • Wild Cat (Felis sylvestris) (including the Domestic Cat)
    • Genus Prionailurus
      • Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)
      • Iriomote Cat (Prionailurus iriomotensis)
      • Flat-headed Cat (Prionailurus planiceps)
      • Rusty-spotted Cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus)
      • Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus)
    • Genus Puma
      • Cougar (Puma concolor)
      • Jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi)
    • Genus Acinonyx
      • Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)
    • Genus Lynx
      • Canadian Lynx (Lynx canadensis)
      • Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx)
      • Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus)
      • Bobcat (Lynx rufus)
    • Genus Leopardus
      • Pantanal (Leopardus braccatus)
      • Colocolo (Leopardus colocolo)
      • Geoffroy's Cat (Leopardus geoffroyi)
      • Kodkod (Leopardus guigna)
      • Andean Mountain Cat (Leopardus jacobitus)
      • Pampas Cat (Leopardus pajeros)
      • Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis)
      • Oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus)
      • Margay (Leopardus wiedii)
    • Genus Leptailurus
      • Serval (Leptailurus serval)
    • Genus Caracal
      • Caracal (Caracal caracal)
    • Genus Profelis
      • African Golden Cat (Profelis aurata)
    • Genus Catopuma
      • Bay Cat (Catopuma badia)
      • Asian Golden Cat (Catopuma temminckii)
    • Genus Pardofelis
      • Marbled Cat (Pardofelis marmorata)
  • Subfamily Pantherinae
    • Genus Neofelis
      • Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa)
      • Bornean Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi)
    • Genus Panthera
      • Lion (Panthera leo)
      • Jaguar (Panthera onca)
      • Leopard (Panthera pardus)
      • Tiger (Panthera tigris)
    • Genus Uncia
      • Snow Leopard (Uncia uncia)

Alternative classification

Genetic research gives a more concise classification for the living members of the cat family:^[5][1]

• Lineage 1: Panthera, Uncia, Neofelis
• Lineage 2: Pardofelis, Catopuma,
• Lineage 3: Leptailurus, Caracal, Profelis
• Lineage 4: Leopardus
• Lineage 5: Lynx
• Lineage 6: Puma, Acinonyx
• Lineage 7: Prionailurus
• Lineage 8: Felis

The last four lineages are more related to each other than to other lineages and form a clade within Felinae.

Fossil felines

The oldest known true feline (Proailurus) lived in the Oligocene and Miocene eras. During the Miocene it gave way to Pseudaelurus. Pseudaelurus is believed to be the latest common ancestor of the two extant subfamilies and the extinct subfamily, Machairodontinae. This group, better known as the sabertooth cats, became extinct in the Late Pleistocene era. It includes the genera Smilodon, Machairodus, Dinofelis and Homotherium. The total number of fossil Felids that are known to science is not very high. Most extinct cat-like animals, once regarded as members of the Felidae, later turned out to be members of related, but distinct, families: the "false sabretooths" Nimravidae and Barbourofelidae. The true cats Felidae radiated quite recently and most of the extant species are relatively young.

Cited references

1. ^ ^{a b c} Wozencraft, W. C. (16 November 2005). in Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 532-548. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. 
2. ^ Mott, Maryann (January 11, 2006). Cats Climb New family Tree. National Geographic News. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
3. ^ Vella, Carolyn; et al. (2002). Robinson's Genetics for Cat Breeders and Veterinarians, 4th ed.. Oxford: Butterworh-Heinemann. ISBN 0-7506-4069-3. 
4. ^ Xia, Li; et.al. (July 2005). Pseudogenization of a Sweet-Receptor Gene Accounts for Cats' Indifference toward Sugar. Public Library of Science. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
5. ^ W.E. Johnson et al.: The Late Miocene radiation of Modern Felidae: A genetic assessment. Science, Bd. 311, S. 73-77, Jan. 2006

General references

• Shoemaker, Alan (1996). 1996 Taxonomic and Legal Status of the Felidae. Felid Taxonomic Advisory Group of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
• Turner, A. (1997). The big cats and their fossil relatives. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-10229-1. 

Extant carnivore families by suborder
Feliformia	Nandiniidae | Prinonodontidae | Felidae | Viverridae | Hyaenidae | Eupleridae | Herpestidae
Caniformia	Canidae | Ursidae | Ailuridae | Mephitidae | Mustelidae | Procyonidae | Odobenidae | Otariidae | Phocidae

hsb:Kóčkizh-yue:貓科

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